Category: 1939

Leave our home and head to the top of Bonneville. Take a left and go down Fairview which shifts onto Abbey Memorial. Pass the cemetery and Szot Park and come to the lights. Take a right then a quick left, unless you want some Papa John’s. You are in what my husband and I and…

As I read her 1940 and even, of course, her 1939 passages I look for signs of war because I want her version of this story I already know. Her opinions, emotions, when, how, and how often the topic arrises in her pages tells me of The American Experience at this time. What is more…

Read part one here: Retro Wednesday: Trolleys Part One There were the times she had to wait for the trolley (and faced repercussions,) Friday, January 22nd, 1937 We lost our game with the Juniors 30 to 28 but it was a pretty good game. After school we had a practice then I bought a tan sport…

Guess what?!?! I also missed a bunch of images that go along with June, 1939 so I cannot help but to splatter those up here as well in tandem with their text. (Man I love when the diary entry and the images collide!) Sunday, June 4th, 1939 It broke today raining and we almost didn’t…

As it is probably clear to see, I have been spending a lot more time on this project and maybe what is not as clear as the posts is all the work I have been putting into the organization of the archive. Today was especially rough. My eyes actually hurt from looking at alllll the…

What is with my obsession with finding patterns? I know life is more likely just chaos and random occurrences. Even still, here are some trends I’ve seen transcribing 1940: I found an interesting pattern with the Nee-Wahs: Tuesday, February 13th, 1940 I wondered tonight if the Nee-Wahs were going to break up. We discussed the…

You really cannot say that Babu had a wild life. She did everything a good woman of the time was supposed to do: waited until marriage, did well in her college studies, got work and was, for the most part, a very dependable employee. Even still, here is one passage I will never forget: Rumble…

Here is an extra post for April A-Z for D. I leave this here as a record of where Babu and “Peaches” or “Cookie” or whatever sweet thing she is calling Jake, are in this moment. Yes, here is the typical Babu, doubting: Monday, November 13th, 1939 My honey took me to work this morn…

The first time I ever read about “Dawn Dances” was October 11th, 1937. I wrote about it in this post: A Brief History of Dance Feel free to click on that link and check out the entire post, it was a fun one! This is a snippet of what I wrote: Monday, October 11th, 1937…

Szot Park is something I’ve always taken for granted. It’s been here since I moved to Chicopee. I can see it from my back porch. But it wasn’t always there. In a Masslive.com article this information is shared: Szot Park opened with dedication ceremonies on Oct. 14, 1939. The dedication included the unveiling of a…

Yes, October, 1939. I have been holding out on you. Kinda, but not really. Yea, not really. I began as super excited. I had seen, not really peeked, a picture here, a word there… Babu went to the World’s Fair! So exciting. I wanted to read all about it. What did she think of the…

In September, we read about Babu’s new hashtag life goals. Saturday, September 23rd, 1939 Consulted Mother today about my paying board and managing on my own pay. I think I will. Wednesday, September 27th, 1939 It’s so cold, rainy, and miserable out today. I can get no answer out of mother about what board I…